A global discussion about the impact of shopping culture on brand strategy, led by the strategic community of The Integer Group which is one of the world's largest and most renowned retail, promotions and shopper marketing agencies.

Today's shoppers are online shoppers and Amazon is a key destination for many. But reaching those shoppers is critical and takes some keen insight on digital advertising and strategy.

Wondering how to achieve digital growth in 2019? The Integer Group has partnered with Salsify as part of their Digital Growth Webinar Series. Tune in on Thursday, February 7th at 1PM ET for the Webinar “Maximizing Your Amazon Advertising Investment with Demand Side Platform,” featuring Aric Annear, Group Director eCommerce for The Integer Group. Together with Salsify, he will be discussing:

–How Demand Side Platform Provides Additional Tools over AMS–How to Take Early Advantage of DSP and Reach More Customers, Faster–How to Make DSP Part of a Comprehensive Amazon Merchandising Strategy

We are a globe filled with online shoppers. And the UK is the world’s third biggest e-commerce market and the world’s second biggest online grocery ordering market. This evolution in shopping behavior has increased the trust and confidence in online ordering and experimentation, giving rise to a new breed of online services: subscriptions. Today, more than a quarter of UK shoppers are signed up to a subscription box, spending more on them than ever before (from £18.49 in 2016 to £56 in 2017), and this is having an impact on their expectations of brands and services.

The subscription e-commerce market has exploded over the past five years, with an increasing number of platforms changing the way we buy and try categories—from razors, wine and whisky, to beauty and groceries. What does this mean for brands trying to keep up with these changing expectations and behaviors?

Research by McKinsey shows that people are subscribing to different offers for different reasons. There is the classic replenishing service that is changing the way we stock up on things. Amazon’s Subscribe & Save or Dollar Shave Club are prime examples of sending out regular stock-ups of a specific product, removing the need to browse and consider different brands, saving us time and money.

Whether you like or dislike Amazon, there's no doubt that they've disrupted how we approach shopping and it’s forcing other large companies to do the same.

Amazon is now expanding offline and rapidly changing the grocery shopping experience presenting new challenges and areas of opportunity for today’s grocers. In 2017 alone, Amazon sold $2 billion in groceries online, which is up 59% year-over-year. It’s estimated that Amazon has 18% of the U.S. online grocery market on lockdown, which is double that of Walmart, Amazon's closest competitor.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stated that the partnership promises to “redefine the shopping experience for millions of customers at both Kroger and other retailers around the world, setting a new standard for innovation in the industry.”

As 2019 begins, we’re looking back at some of influential topics from 2018 to see how they panned out and how they might continue to evolve in the year ahead.

Plastics Pollution

Plastics pollution was the focus of Earth Day 2018, and the topic saw increased attention from brands and shoppers alike throughout the year. From plastic straw bans to product lines made from recycled plastic (think: #AdidasParley), efforts to reduce plastic consumption and waste made waves in 2018.

With the most recent UN climate report stating that the world has just over a decade to bring climate change under control and the European Parliament’s decision to ban many single-use plastics by 2021, the focus on plastics doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon. Trend reports predict that 2019 will see everything from an increase no-waste travel guides to a rise in the use of reusable beeswax wrap in place of plastic wrap.

Chinese e-commerce platform Alibaba is rolling out their “New manufacturing” strategy, helping companies create innovations and marketing them on their site. So far, they have helped Mars create a spicy Snickers bar, based on shopper search habits of spicy and sweet, and helped Unilever test demand for pollution-fighting cosmetics.With Alibaba controlling platforms, ranging from online shopping, to streaming, to offline payment system Alipay, the company is starting to use these different data streams to support brands with innovation. As platforms like Alibaba and Amazon grow beyond e-commerce, the way brands research and innovate will begin to change. Faster, unbiased product testing, cross-platform user behavior and buying insights will help accelerate and improve innovation cycles, all while helping the e-commerce giants gain deeper influence and authority.

Black Friday as we know it is changing, and this year showcased the shopping holiday’s future. With advances in the online shopping experience, retailers responded early with deals sprouting up days—even weeks—prior to the traditional Black Friday weekend. This, coupled with low gas prices and higher hourly wages, was the perfect mix for a record-breaking shopping holiday, and a sign of things to come.

To No Surprise, Online Shopping Grows

Many shoppers traded in the midnight campouts of yore for the comfort and convenience of their homes. Internet sales surpassed predictions, growing by 26.4% from the same time last year compared to brick and mortar store traffic which fell between 5% and 9%. Online sales were bolstered by shoppers’ growing preference for mobile shopping, and for the first time ever mobile shopping surpassed desktop on Black Friday.

The holiday season is upon us and it is often characterized by predictable pressures. But when it comes to holiday shopping, shifting demographics are causing interesting deviations from long-hold beliefs about the behaviors and attitudes of both shoppers and retailers.

To learn more about the latest holiday shopping trends, download the latest issue of The Checkout here. It covers topics and findings including:

The world’s first flat wine bottle is here. Garconwines has launched a flat, plastic wine bottle to solve a big issue with home delivery—wine bottles not fitting through the narrow slot in the front door/mailbox. It's a win win for shoppers, brands and retailers as it holds the same amount of wine as a normal bottle and can be used by producers for their online orders.

Wine isn't the only one changing the game to reach shoppers. As people in the U.K. are going out less, drinking more at home and are getting used to buying online, alcohol brands are innovating in eCommerce and DTC to ensure seamless delivery and experiences for shoppers. Brands like Whisky-me, which is delivering malts in pouches while Tipplebox delivers everything needed for cocktails to your doorstep. Recognizing the changing needs and offering the right solutions across packaging, price and product can help brands find new commerce opportunities in the unsettled alcohol market and ever changing eCommerce landscape.

It’s no secret that the IoT (Internet of Things) has been increasing its critical mass over the past few years. It started slowly, in a very stealthy way: lightbulbs, smart wearables and speakers. Now, the IoT is gaining momentum, making its way into everyday products like refrigerators, doorbells, thermostats and cars. It’s seeping into every facet of our lives. And, with Amazon’s Echo Auto announcement (which brings Alexa into the car), the war for dominance of the IoT is quietly being waged.

The 101 definition of IoT is a system of interconnected, interrelated devices that collect and share data without human interaction. The war being waged is over which framework, or OS (operating system), can connect, share and make meaning of this data through apps and devices to be actionable and, most importantly for consumers and marketers alike, transactional and automated.

Snap has announced it will test a new feature that allows users to buy whatever they come across by simply pointing their Snap camera on any product or barcode. After, a pop-up window will show the item or similar items as they are available on Amazon. With one tap, users can then buy through Amazon.

This is just one more example of how social platforms are increasingly implementing commerce features, blurring the lines between eCommerce and social media. Instagram has made its posts shoppable, Pinterest introduced a similar visual shopping tool in cooperation with Target, and Facebook is rolling out augmented reality ads with a link to buy. While all of these drive transaction, the instant nature of Snap’s new feature offers new possibilities to prompt impulsive purchase moments anywhere. This is something that impulse categories in particular may be able to benefit from as they have so far been struggling to translate impulse to the digital world.

The rise of eCommerce has undoubtedly penetrated the APAC market, and grocery stores are no exception. While there has been success in the market for grocery eCommerce, this level of growth is not the case for everyone.

The variation across APAC markets isn’t difficult to observe. South Korea leads the pack with eight percent market share of online grocery, while Japan and China follow close behind with market shares of seven percent and five percent, respectively. Other countries in Asia, however, face much lower market penetration. Hong Kong, India, and Malaysia, for example, have market penetration rates of less than two percent.

To understand this variation, it’s important to consider the various barriers in the market for e-grocery businesses—from infrastructure to labor costs and logistics but, most important, shopper sentiment, behavior, and accessibility.

For many years, direct-to-consumer (D2C) was the unicorn aspiration of brand and marketing managers in the western world. Having people care enough about a product to seek it out online was a tease that compelled many brands to collectively waste billions in investigating a way to have a direct commercial relationship with your customer.

The goal was obvious. Cut out the middleman. Access full margin, data, and consumer information. Create a reason for that expensive, under-performing website we so lovingly built.

We saw mainstream brands of all kinds, from beauty to beer, rushing to create "active online relationships" with a view to one day commercializing them through direct purchase and delivery.

People love their beer. In fact, it’s one of the few fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) categories where people love the brands. But that love is at the bar, in the fridge, in a glass or bottle on a warm summer afternoon, in the moment. It doesn’t extend enough to want to order directly from the brand (unless they're selling a keg, then, well, maybe).

Recent data shows online marketplaces are consumers' preferred places to shop. This preference underscores the reason that D2C remains a unicorn for most brands. Choice is a key driver of the chosen retail environment. It doesn’t have to be large, just relevant (and ideally curated) choice. D2C does not offer choice, while online marketplaces do.

Who is back-to-school shopping on Amazon Prime Day and what are shoppers buying online? What online methods are consumers using to plan for their shopping trips? Are shoppers using new services such as grocery delivery or voice-activated shopping for their back-to-school needs?

In this issue, we answer these questions and highlight three key trends influencing the back-to-school shopping season:

1. Amazon Prime Day has become the unofficial kickoff to the back-to-school and back-to-college shopping season

2. Back-to-school shoppers are price-focused shoppers

3. Younger, multicultural shoppers are leading adoption of new eCommerce services

The menswear company, Eison Triple Thread, just released an app that recommends its users’ clothes based on the music they listen to. The app connects to a user’s Spotify account and analyses their ‘most liked’ music genres and favorite artists. With this information, the app claims to understand the emotions behind a user’s style choice with the ability to recommend the best possible fashion style for them. This is just one of many ways personalized commerce is manifesting in the world.

As personalization continues to grow and evolve in commerce, people will expect services to create individual experiences. Accor Hotels used traveller’s biometric data to suggest their ultimate destinations. L’Occitane is using machine learning to personalize their mobile site. These as well as the Eison Triple Thread example shows there are a multitude of ways to infuse personalization along the shopper journey.

Alibaba is no stranger to retail innovation. The Chinese company, after all, is one of the highest grossing e-commerce retailers in the world and behind new happenings like the prominent shopping holiday Single’s Day. This July, however, Alibaba propelled retail in a surprising direction: Artificial Intelligence.

Alibaba has released what it calls an “AI stylist,” installed as part of a concept store in collaboration with American clothing brand Guess. From July 5-7 at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, passersby were free to roam the collection and, of course, seek recommendations on their garments from the digital stylist.

The AI boasts a set of cutting-edge features, most notably a “smart mirror,” a virtual shopping cart, and of course, intelligent style recommendations. With compatible product tags attached to store merchandise, the smart mirror is capable of recognizing an item — including its color and size — and displaying these details on an accompanying screen. The virtual shopping cart, on the other hand, enables shoppers to select merchandise and seamlessly add it to a virtual shopping cart, eliminating the need to physically carry items around the store. The AI stylist even offers recommendations to shoppers based on items that shoppers have previously picked up or bought.

This intelligent fashion stylist has two main implications for shoppers, as well as Alibaba.